Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater HT Sytem Pieces to Consider

Cool Cheesseroo,

Now it's time to decide if I want to increase the budget now and go with Anthem Pre and Power! I'm assuming these components will match the Grand Master Package until we move into our house?

What two way learning/programmable remotes do people reccomend?

I'm checking out the Harmony line. Look at models SST-768S and SST-748S and see what you think.

You may want to review this thread for a discussion on remotes.

Van G, after that thread, I did end up purchasing the Harmony SST-659. I bought it at BlueDo. It actually ended up, with exchange/brokerage fees, about as expensive as it would have been had @ Future Shop or Best Buy in Canada - you win some, you lose some I guess.

Some of the best features of it are:
-the keypad lighting makes it a cinch to use in the dark
-many of the buttons are differently shaped/molded so it makes it reasonably easy to operate it by touch only
-it's extremely easy for other 'non-techies' to operate
-you can customize signal speed (sends button signals quicker to the components)
-once you get the hang of the website, it's actually kind of fun using it to program, and very easy!

Some drawbacks to the design of the Harmony are:
-you obviously need a computer/web access to program it
-it's inability to perform macros
-the lack of instructions, either on-line or included manual
-quickly switching between functions (checking the score in a game while watching a DVD) can be a bit tedious. It requires hitting 3-4 buttons on the remote to change both pic & sound inputs. That's where a macro function would really help.


With all that being said, I've been very pleased with it so far. It did take a bit of time to get it set up initially, with a bit of trial-and-error involved. I think that's where a better manual would help - cutting down on a bit of the guesswork. Knowing what I know now, I could probably program the Harmony the same way I have it in under 5 minutes! It has replaced all 4 of my other remotes - so it's done exactly what it was supposed to do. The significant-other-acceptance-factor is through the roof with this bad boy too. It would work very well for anyone's home theatre, but for people that HAVE to have macros, this might not be the ideal remote. Good luck!

I've been putting a lot of consideration into a new remote. The address below is a good site with many remotes reviewed. Their forumns are helpful but a little slow. I was considernig the MX-700 (around $180 is the cheapest I could find without the extra packaged remote). That remote has macros and can be programmed via computer.

http://www.remotecentral.com/remotes.htm

sidvicious02, what kinds of things besides quickly checking "the score" do you find lacking with this remote? On a day to day basis, are there anythings you'd need to macro?

Patrick,
I find it to be more than adequate in all other areas. Of course, as mentioned in the other thread, I don't mess a lot with my settings. All my connections, while organized like a rat's nest, are fairly simple. It would be increasingly difficult with more connections (ex. people that use both analog & digital connections from their DVD/CD players). That being said, the remote is very fexible, and it should be easy to bring any oft used remote command to the one-touch programmable buttons. It just may take a little work and trial-and-error. I'm very happy with the Harmony SST-659 and have had no other concerns other than the "quick switch".

I'm just curious if I am missing something. I have programmed my receiver remote(RXV1400) to operate all my components and I have no complaints. It is easy once you get used to it. I do use digital/analog connections for cable just because some stuff does look better in analog. (I have a HD cable box with video component connects and sometimes the channel looks horrible in digital on my widescreen) But anyway, I'm just curious whats the advantages to buying a different universal remote.

Thanks for all the remote posts. Harmony product and support looks great. Web based database is a nice feature for sure.

With respect to the HT Receiver or Processor, many have mentioned the "auto" room balancing the Yamaha RV-1400 does? Is this that great a feature or is this something I can do with other tools/my ear when using Sony or higher end Anthem product?

Also, I'm shying away from spending the money on the Anthem pieces until I'm in our house. That much power in our apartment would be like buying Ferrari with Auto Transmission.

So I'm back to looking at Receivers as a good interm solution that I can minimize my depreciation when I take "The Step."

So, if most of the DVD's are 5.1 encoded, the receiver's are 7.1, and I'm only buying a 5.1 setup for the apartment (6 or 7 would be stacking speakers side by side!).... Well, I don't really know the question other than I'm confused! Why and what are people doing with 7.1 and 9.1 setups?

Van, on the auto-equalization(not just level balancing), no it can't be done by ear, and yes, it definitely is a coming feature that will become more common. Separate equalizers can be bought at significant expense and with considerably more effort to use(see willscary post in equalization thread), but also can likely result in even better equalization than with the present built-ins available. So although they're far from perfect, my view is that, other features being about equal, auto-equalization should be the deal-clincher.

On 7.1, etc., there's no 7.1 format(6 is the max now), but some processors(e.g. DPLIIx, Logic7)can extract and process information from 2 and 5 channel recordings to give a somewhat better total surround effect with the back speakers, especially if their room is very large.

Van, do not dismiss the cheaper possibilities when looking for good Anthem equipment.